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Keith N
Keith N
Sonos Staff
May 11, 2024

The New Sonos App and Future Feature Updates

Hey all, today we're sharing a message from our chief innovation officer, Nick Millington in the announcement here. Going forwards we will update that topic and we therefore close this one for further replies.

 

 

We set out to create a more personalized and effortless listening experience with the updated Sonos app. It was rebuilt from the ground up to ensure it could support future innovation in the years to come. For its initial rollout, we focused on how we could answer some of the most common requests from our customers, including increased reliability, performance, and faster access to music.


Many of you have shared valuable feedback on both the improvements that have made your experience better, as well as the areas where we fell short. We are listening to all of your comments and working to address them as quickly as possible. Over the coming weeks, we will reintroduce the below features, while fixing bugs and performance issues. Thank you for your engagement and we look forward to building upon this first step to create a listening experience that meets everyone’s needs.
 

 

Available now

 

To access these changes, check for updates in the iOS / Android app store to download the latest version of the Sonos app. Make sure your Sonos products are also up to date.


Last updated: Oct 28, 2024. See release notes.

The update has the following version numbers:

 

80.11.38 - iOS
80.11.32 - Android

 

In this update:

 

  • Support for the all-new Arc Ultra soundbar and Sub 4
  • Music library improvements*
  • Improvements to product setup
  • Improved performance when browsing content in Home and in Browse on Android
  • Improvements to multi-system support on iOS
  • Fixes for multiple settings including Bluetooth display, EQ, and Sub bonding on iOS
  • The ability to schedule System Updates on iOS
  • Continued Voiceover improvements on iOS

 

* Requires player update - 81.1-58074 (or higher)

 

 

You can also follow along with updates in this article: 

 

    This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

    2256 replies

    Show previous replies
    LJG777
    May 26, 2024

    @LJG777,

    If you have a PC/MAC - you can likely correct your system time with Sonos Controller Desktop App. Maybe that will resolve your date/time issue🤔?

    Ok I’ll try that - I have a MAC - so should I open the WebApp - or the MacOS app?

    Paq
    Lyricist III
    May 26, 2024

    @LJG777,

    If you have a PC/MAC - you can likely correct your system time with Sonos Controller Desktop App. Maybe that will resolve your date/time issue🤔?

    Ok I’ll try that - I have a MAC - so should I open the WebApp - or the MacOS app?

    Mac OS app. It works like a charm. So why Mobile or tablette Apps can have the same features? why waiting for so long?

    LJG777
    May 26, 2024

    @LJG777,

    If you have a PC/MAC - you can likely correct your system time with Sonos Controller Desktop App. Maybe that will resolve your date/time issue🤔?

    Ok I’ll try that - I have a MAC - so should I open the WebApp - or the MacOS app?

    I’ve looked in both - can’t see anywhere to change the date/time. I did ask support if I could change it and they said no - it has to be in the backend of the app….

    LJG777
    May 26, 2024

    @LJG777,

    If you have a PC/MAC - you can likely correct your system time with Sonos Controller Desktop App. Maybe that will resolve your date/time issue🤔?

    Ok I’ll try that - I have a MAC - so should I open the WebApp - or the MacOS app?

    Mac OS app. It works like a charm. So why Mobile or tablette Apps can have the same features? why waiting for so long?

    Hmm - where do I change date/time? Can’t find it

    LJG777
    May 26, 2024

    @LJG777,

    If you have a PC/MAC - you can likely correct your system time with Sonos Controller Desktop App. Maybe that will resolve your date/time issue🤔?

    Ok I’ll try that - I have a MAC - so should I open the WebApp - or the MacOS app?

    Mac OS app. It works like a charm. So why Mobile or tablette Apps can have the same features? why waiting for so long?

    I can’t see where to change date/time in the macOS app?? And i cant see that I can change Voice Assistant in there either?. So that doesn’t fix my problem. 

    LJG777
    May 26, 2024

    @LJG777,

    If you have a PC/MAC - you can likely correct your system time with Sonos Controller Desktop App. Maybe that will resolve your date/time issue🤔?

    Ok I’ll try that - I have a MAC - so should I open the WebApp - or the MacOS app?

    @Ken_Griffiths  - Couldn’t find a way to change the date time,  FYI - this is what my app looks like...you can see Sonos Voice Control added - but when I click ‘ add a voice assistant’….

     

    I get this sayin Alexa is already added (which it isn’t as it would appear in the above list)

     

     

    Lheffern22
    Listener
    May 26, 2024

    I’ve updated the app but now I cannot pair my brand new Sonos roam. I keep getting an error that the Roam cannot be added on my current device. I’ve factory reset, rebooted the roam and my phone, check d for updates, tried my husbands phone. I’m getting seriously pissed off. Any workarounds? 

      johnfguild
      Contributor I
      May 26, 2024

      This is among the worst customer experiences I have ever had. I hate that I didn’t recognize that the nature of your products are that you could and would turn them to hot garbage on a whim based on an “update.” And that is what’s happened here. 

        brandybob
        Contributor I
        May 26, 2024

        Thought it might be useful to summarise what has happened that I am aware of. If nothing else, it’s been cathartic for me to write things down :-)

        • The key driver for releasing the new app now was two new products that had been designed to only work with the new app (even though one of the products will only be shipped on 5th June, almost a month after the new app was introduced)
        • This new app involved a complete replatforming of the way that Sonos works. At least part of this change is the move to make it cloud-based. Lots of questions as to what that actually means for individual users, data, etc. These questions have not been addressed
        • Replatforming is a complex process that frequently unearths issues and problems that were not known about or anticipated and often over-runs
        • Choosing to mandate a deadline for replatforming based on a hard deadline for product release created a (in)significant risk that the new app would not be ready by the date at which it was forced to be released
        • Sonos acknowledge that they knew the software had bugs when it was released - e.g., alarms. There may well be other bugs that Sonos does or does not know about
        • The new software was also released with the deliberate loss of a large number of  existing features (i.e., not bugs). Some might consider these to be basic functions, e.g., adding songs to a queue of music, sleep function. This is not a comprehensive list of the functions that were removed
        • The new software seems incredibly unstable. Work-arounds and solutions work for some people and not others, or are too complicated to be easily widely replicable. Where solutions do seem to work, they do not work consistently time after time after time
        • Lots of edge cases have not been properly catered for. Given the sheer amount of music services Sonos supports, combined with product options and individual customisations, there will be a lot of these which will take a lot of work to address
        • Customer service is currently overwhelmed. Web support is often unavailable or unable to help; the wait times for the helpline are very long
        • One of the currently advised work-arounds is to use the existing desktop app for Mac or Windows. This desktop app is not available to everyone as it has been removed from download links in advance of being sunsetted
        • The timelines provided by Sonos above are not for an exhaustive list of all the work required or features to be reinstated. That list has not been released publicly and will likely extend far beyond the timelines detailed above (i.e., not all features previously present will be available by mid-June)
        • Sonos has a long-standing customer base. One of its key differentiators and sources of value (as stated in multiple public announcements) is the loyalty of these customers and the way that you want to maintain them in the Sonos ecosystem. A large number (but definitely not all) of these customers are angry/ annoyed/ upset with these changes and how they have been implemented and communicated

        Given that, a few questions for Sonos. No, I’m not expecting immediate answers but to Sonos - these should be on your crisis communications roadmap:

        • Does Sonos commit to restore functionality to what it was before the new app was released (i.e., to what was available in the latest version of the gold app)? Does that commitment include all edge cases, and if not, what will not be resolved?
        • What is the full list of work to be done to the app, and what are the current estimates for when things will be done? (Yes, this will be horrifically long both in number of tasks and duration, but probably time to tell us all the bad news at once rather than drip-feeding it out)
        • A lot of people would like to temporarily go back to using the latest version of the old gold app (i.e. v16). What is the reason that they cannot (other than just saying ‘you can’t)? Have a lot of other changes been made behind the scenes that mean that this is not possible? If so, what?
        • It is an imperfect solution, but can you commit to maintaining the availability of the desktop app whilst you work to improve the mobile app? Could you make it available for download for those who do not already have it?
        • What are the improvements for users that you hope to bring by releasing this new app? (Not generalities about ease of navigation, actual features that necessitated replatforming)
        • What are the implications for customer data/ security/ other from moving to the cloud? How will Sonos mitigate any potential downsides from this move?
        • What is the process by which you will communicate progress on resolving these issues to us, the users (not the press or trade journals)?
        • What are the concrete steps or commitments that Sonos will make to ensure that a) situations like this do not happen again or b) if they are unavoidable, that the impact of them will be communicated to users well in advance?

        Sorry for the essay. But...I’m feeling much more zen now. Feel free to tell me where I’m wrong!

        100% - spot on!!!

          Listener2024
          Lyricist III
          May 26, 2024

          Gee the feedback mountain just grows and grows and you  must admit you have a terrible short term disaster on your hands . 

          Please don’t continue to defend the indefensible ( your sounding like a politician’s manifesto and that’s not good look ) 

          Options ?
          1 Give everyone not happy their money back including premium music app spends that can’t be properly used . Not viable as you would be bankrupt 

          2 Roll back the app to last one ( even with its niggles much better than this one) . Probably not viable as huge egg on your face and very few people would upgrade to new app when you’ve “fixed” it as they wouldn’t trust it . That would also put a hole in your intended new product stuff.
           

          3 Rather than just pick up info on the forums as you seem to be doing and writing cringeworthy stuff about courage et al contact each user personally by email asking for forgiveness and get yourselves to a verified shortlist of priorities to fix and state when you will complete the fixes .

          Not sure if you have the in-house capability for this?  

           

          I feel sure you didn’t set out to concoct such a fiasco so some sympathy . Admittedly fixing it all would be beyond my pay grade but you are constantly demonstrating it’s also beyond yours and that’s not a viable option. 

           


           


           

           

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